Plan A Great Dessert for Your Valentine

Where romance is concerned, it's never too early to start
thinking about food to go with it. That's why I'd like to
give you a head start on your plans for a Valentine's Day
treat. Chocolate, as we all know, is the most traditional
treat to give to the one you love. Most people begin and end
their efforts, however, by buying a box of store-bought
chocolates. This year, I suggest that you do something
different: Make an amazing chocolate dessert for your
Valentine. It's easy if you follow my recipe for Chocolate
Souffle Bread Pudding. And nothing is likely to impress him
or her more. Now, don't get anxious at the sight of that word
"souffle". Yes, making most traditional souffle recipes can
seem like risky business, rising and then sometimes falling in
spite of your most diligent efforts. But the version I share
with you here is a tried and true old Austrian recipe that's a
hybrid between the usual airy souffle and a bread pudding.
Unlike the latter home-style dessert, however, the bread in this
recipe is soaked in cream and then processed along with butter, egg
yolks, ground almond, sugar and melted chocolate until smoothly
pureed. Folded together with the beaten egg whites, it gives
the souffle more substance and stability. So, although the
dessert rises a bit, it will also have the smooth, rich, satisfying
texture of true comfort food. Isn't that a wonderful
combination of sensation to share with your Valentine? With
more than a week until the big day, you'll have plenty of time to
get ready to make this dessert. The most important
ingredients for successful results are the chocolate and the
bread. Look for a really good-quality semisweet or
bittersweet chocolate with a cocoa butter content of at least 70
percent. Reliable choices, available in gourmet shops and
well-stocked supermarkets, include European brands such as Valrhona
and Callebaut, as well as top American
chocolates such as Scharffen Berger. There are also more and
more boutique chocolate brands springing up everywhere, so keep an
eye open for them when you shop and read labels to make sure you
buy one with sufficient cocoa butter to guarantee the desired
creamy results. As for the bread, look in good bakeries for a
loaf rich in eggs and butter. French-style Brioche is an
exceellent choice, coming close as yeast bread can to being cake
while still being bread. Jewish-style challah bread also
works very well. The quantities given in the recipe yield 6
individual servings of 1/2 cup each- enough for the seconds many
chocolate lovers will want, and one each extra to reheat gently, or
even eat cold, for breakfast the next morning. And why not
keep Valentine's Day going into February 15?